October 13th, 1941 (MONDAY)
LUXEMBOURG: ltestenrat der Juden (Jewish Council) reports 750 Jews remaining in the country.
GERMANY: RAF bombers make their first large-scale night raid on Nürnberg.
Hitler comments on the US economy:
America can be paid only in gold. A commerce based on the exchange of products is not possible with America, for America suffers from a surplus of raw materials and a plethora of manufactured goods. This gold which the Americans receive in exchange for the labor they supply, they hide it away in their strong-rooms - and they imagine the world will yield to this policy born in the smoky brain of a Jewish thinker! The result is their 13 million unemployed. (207)
U-733 laid down.
U-705 launched.
U.S.S.R.: Vyazma is captured by the Germans essentially ending Soviet resistance of the nearby pocket.
The German First Panzer Group, advancing along the north coast of the Sea of Azoz, reaches the Mius River opposite Taganrog.
German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte capture Kalinin, 100 miles (160.9 km) west of Moscow.
JAPAN: The Foreign Ministry sends a message to the embassy in Washington. Part of the message states that "The situation at home is fast approaching a crisis and it is becoming absolutely essential that the two leaders meet if any adjustment of Japanese-U. S. relations is to be accomplished. I cannot go into details now, but please bear this fact in mind."
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Kamsack and minesweeper HMCS Georgian arrived Halifax from builders Montreal and Toronto respectively.
U.S.A.: Secretary of State Hull spoke on behalf of arming American-flag ships engaged in foreign trade
stating, "It is our right to arm our vessels for purposes of defense. That cannot be questioned . . . since section 6 of the Neutrality, Act was adopted, entirely new conditions have developed. . . . The new conditions have been produced by the Hitler movement of world invasion. Hitler is endeavoring to conquer the European and African and other continents, and he therefore is desperately seeking to control the high seas. To this end he has projected his forces far out into the Atlantic with a policy of submarine lawlessness and terror. This broad movement of conquest, world-wide in its objectives, places squarely before the United States the urgent and most important question of self-defense. . . . The intent of these attacks is to intimidate this country into weakening or abandoning the legitimate defenses of the hemisphere by retreating from the seas. . .
. The problem is to set up as swiftly as possible the most effective means of self-defense. The principle is that the first duty of an independent nation is to safeguard its own security. . . ."
The USN Bureau of Aeronautics directed that all fleet aircraft be painted non-specular light gray except for surfaces seen above which are to be blue-gray. In late December, this color scheme is extended to shore-based airplanes except trainers. (Jack McKillop & Dave Shirlaw)